Hooker

"Hooker," a slang word for prostitute, was used in an 1845 letter written by a student to a classmate at the University of North Carolina. This is the earliest known written usage of the word in this sense. The letter was found in the university library's Southern Historical Collection by noted UNC professor and philologist Norman E. Eliason. The date of his finding undermines the popular notion that the term came into usage in the Civil War era in "honor" of Union general Joseph Hooker's well-documented personal proclivities.

Reference:

Norman E. Eliason, Tar Heel Talk: An Historical Study of the English Language in North Carolina to 1860 (1956).

Add a comment

PLEASE NOTE: NCpedia will not publish personal contact information in comments, questions, or responses. If you would like a reply by email, please note thats some email servers are blocked from accepting messages from outside email servers or domains. These often include student email addresses from public school email accounts. If you prefer not to leave an email address, check back at your NCpedia comment for a reply. Please allow one business day for replies from NCpedia. Complete guidelines are available at http://ncpedia.org/comments.